When my second child became a toddler, I realized I had become a completely different parent in the span of two years. When my oldest daughter was a young toddler, I hovered. I chose everything for her, made sure her clothes were neat and tidy, fed her, and life was a fairy tale of cleanliness.

Then I had a 1 year old and a 2 year old that wanted everything at the same time and that hovering just didn’t happen anymore. I relaxed, let them make a little mess, and let life happen. I started letting my youngest daughter feed herself at a much earlier age. I thought I was just being smart, and a little bit selfish – because if I fed her, then I always ate a cold dinner. Turns out, I was doing something really good for her.

Encouraging her Confidence.

We encourage confidence in our toddlers in so many ways, but sometimes it’s hard for us, as parents, to let meals and snack times be more independent. We like for tables, floors, and clothes to stay clean.

There are ways to encourage confidence without sacrificing a bowl full of yogurt on your floor! Refrigerated yogurt pouches are a great way to let your toddlers gain confidence by feeding themselves!

Not only are they able to feed themselves and gain confidence by doing it on their own, you can let them choose their favorite flavors too!

Another way that I’ve encouraged confidence in my girls as toddlers, is to let them choose their own snacks, within reason. I dedicate a shelf in the refrigerator to healthy snack choices and they’re allowed to go in and choose one when they want.

By allowing our toddlers to make independent, healthy snack choices at an early age, we’re encouraging their confidence with self-feeding and instilling those healthy values that we hope lasts throughout their life!

Lindsey is the author behind the So Easy Being Green blog. SEBG is a resource for parents who want to make small changes that will make a big impact on their path to a green-er life.